A BILL to amend and reenact §11-22-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to redistributing an existing
excise tax paid upon the transfer of real property so that the
tax is paid to the county where the property is situate
instead of to the state; requiring counties to dedicate this
excise tax to support regional jails and substance abuse
programs; providing this be accomplished incrementally over a
five-year period; and making stylistic changes.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §11-22-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 22. EXCISE TAX ON PRIVILEGE OF TRANSFERRING REAL PROPERTY.

§11-22-2. Rate of tax; when and by whom payable; distribution and
use.

(a) Every person who delivers, accepts or presents for
recording any document, or in whose behalf any document is
delivered, accepted or presented for recording, is subject to pay
for, and in respect to the transaction or any part thereof, a state
an excise tax upon the privilege of transferring title to real
estate at the rate of $1.10 for each $500 value or fraction thereof
as represented by the document as defined in section one of this
article. The state tax is payable at the time of delivery,
acceptance or presenting for recording of the document. Commencing
July 1, 2012, the excise tax collected in this subsection shall be
distributed in the following manner:

(1) For the first year, eighty percent to the state and twenty
percent to the county;

(2) For the second year, sixty percent to the state and forty
percent to the county;

(3) For the third year, forty percent to the state and sixty
percent to the county;

(4) For the fourth year, twenty percent to the state and
eighty percent to the county; and

(5) For the fifth and each succeeding year, one hundred
percent to the county.

(b) The counties shall use seventy-five percent of the excise
tax collected under subsection (a) of this section to support the
regional jail within their respective regions and twenty-five
percent to support substance abuse treatment.

(1) The county commission in consultation with the chief
circuit court judge shall determine how to disperse the money
dedicated to support substance abuse treatment. The funding is to
be used in the county or counties where it was collected.
Treatment programs that are suitable for funding, include but are
not limited to, substance abuse treatment and intervention such as
ethics case management based addiction programs, short and long
term residential treatment programs and out-patient programs as
well as community corrections substance abuse treatment programs.
(c) In addition to the state excise tax described in this
subsection (a) of this section, there is assessed a fee of $20 upon
the privilege of transferring real estate for consideration. The
clerk of the county commission shall collect the additional $20 fee
before recording a transfer of title to real estate and shall
deposit the moneys from the additional fees into the West Virginia
Affordable Housing Trust Fund as provided in article eighteen-d,
chapter thirty-one of this code. The moneys collected from this
additional fee shall be segregated from other funds in the West
Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund and shall be accounted for
separately. Not more than ten percent of these additional moneys
may be expended by the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund
to defray administrative and operating costs and expenses actually
incurred by the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The
Housing Development Fund, as fiscal agent of the West Virginia
Affordable Housing Trust Fund, shall publish monthly on the
Internet site an accounting of all revenue deposited into the fund
during the month and a full disclosure of all expenditures from the
fund including the group receiving funds, their location and any
contractor awarded the construction contract. Additionally, the
West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund is to provide an annual
report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance before
December 1, 2007, and each year thereafter.

(b) Effective January 1, 1968, and thereafter, there is
imposed an additional county excise tax for the privilege of
transferring title to real estate at the rate of 55¢ for each $500
value or fraction thereof as represented by such document as
defined in section one of this article, which county tax shall be
payable at the time of delivery, acceptance or presenting for
recording of such document: Provided, That after July 1, 1989, the
county may increase said excise tax to an amount equal to the state
excise tax. The additional tax hereby imposed is declared to be a
county tax and to be used for county purposes: Provided, however,
That only one such state tax and one such county tax shall be paid
on any one document and shall be collected in the county where the
document is first admitted to record and the tax shall be paid by
the grantor therein unless the grantee accepts the document without
such tax having been paid, in which event such tax shall be paid by
the grantee: Provided further, That on any transfer of real
property from a trustee or a county clerk transferring real estate
sold for taxes, such tax shall be paid by the grantee. The county
excise tax imposed under this section may not be increased in any
county unless the increase is approved by a majority vote of the
members of the county commission of such county. Any county
commission intending to increase the excise tax imposed in its
county shall publish a notice of its intention to increase such tax
not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days prior to the
meeting at which such increase will be considered, such notice to
be published as a Class I legal advertisement in compliance with
the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code
and the publication area shall be the county in which such county
commission is located.

(d) There is imposed an additional county excise tax for the
privilege of transferring title to real estate at the rate of $.55
for each $500 value or fraction thereof as represented by such
document, as defined in section one of this article, and is payable
at the time of delivery, acceptance or presenting for recording of
such document. The additional tax hereby imposed is declared to be
a county tax and to be used for county purposes. The county may
increase this excise tax to an amount equal to the tax set forth in
subsection (a) of this section if approved by a majority vote of
the members of the county commission. A county commission intending
to increase the excise tax imposed in its county shall publish a
notice of its intention to increase such tax not less than thirty
days nor more than sixty days prior to the meeting at which the
increase will be considered, such notice to be published as a Class
I legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article
three, chapter fifty-nine of this code and the publication area
shall be the county in which such county commission is located.

(e) The taxes established by this section shall be collected
in the county where the document is first admitted to record and
paid by the grantor unless the grantee accepts the document without
the tax having been paid, in which event the tax shall be paid by
the grantee. On any transfer of real property from a trustee or a
county clerk transferring real estate sold for taxes, such tax
shall be paid by the grantee.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to incrementally
redistribute an existing excise tax on the transfer of real
property so that, over the course of five years, all moneys
collected will be paid to the county where the property is situate
instead of the state and to require that moneys paid to counties be
dedicated to regional jails and substance abuse treatment.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.